Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops (affiliation)) on Wednesday, 10 January 2024, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 24 January 2024. It was answered by Lord Bellamy (Conservative) on Wednesday, 24 January 2024 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Prisons: Telephones

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cost per minute to make a call from (1) a prison wing payphone, and (2) an in-cell phone, to (a) a landline, and (b) a mobile phone, at (i) weekends, and (ii) weekdays.

Answer

The cost per minute for prison wing payphone and in-cell phones are:

Calls to UK fixed lines:

3.10 pence during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday
2.75 pence during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

Calls to UK mobiles:

6.88 pence during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday
4.50 pence during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

Prisons are able to limit when calls can be made and the duration of time an individual can use a PIN phone for on a given day. These limitations will reflect the local capacity to handle multiple calls concurrently and their requirement to resource the monitoring of specific calls.

Prisoners pay for their own calls using prison earnings or money sent into them from family and friends. Calls to organisations such as the Samaritans are free to prisoners with HMPPS paying for these directly.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL1421
Session
2023-24
Subjects
Costs Prisons Telephones
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk